FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 9th, 2013

‘IN PLAY WITH JIMMY ROBERTS’ TURNS THE CAMERA LENS ON GOLF PHOTOGRAPHERS ON SERIES’ NEXT EPISODE, TUESDAY AT 10:30 P.M. ET ON GOLF CHANNEL

Through Golf, Dallas Teenager Rises From Poverty

Paralyzed Trick Shot Artist Dennis Walters Discusses How Accident Changed his Life

ORLANDO, Fla., (Aug. 9, 2013) – The newest episode of Golf Channel’s IN PLAY WITH JIMMY ROBERTS returns Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. ET with a new slate of real-life stories within the game of golf, headlined by a look down the lens into the amazing world of golf photography.

A look inside the ropes with some of the best photographers to ever capture the game will highlight Tuesday’s show, which also will share the inspirational stories of Dallas teenager Lester Bell, who overcame poverty through the power of golf; and trick shot artist Dennis Walters, whose paralysis opened a new door to life.

Host Jimmy Roberts, a 13-time Emmy Award-winner, has drawn critical praise for telling some of sports’ greatest stories during his distinguished career at NBC Sports, ESPN and ABC News and ABC Sports, which includes covering 14 Olympics.  Described as “an enterprising new original series” by Sports Illustrated and a “gorgeously shot magazine show” by CableFAX Daily, IN PLAY WITH JIMMY ROBERTS is a monthly series that chronicles stories ranging from celebrities to everyday people who are all unified by golf.

Scheduled features on the Tuesday, Aug. 13 episode:

  • An inside-the-ropes look at golf photographers – Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis peers down the lens into the amazing world of golf photography for the episode’s lead story.  Venturing behind the scenes and inside the ropes at such prestigious events as The Open Championship and the PGA Championship, Lewis discovers the strategies these artisans adopt week in and out to hone their craft and help capture golf’s iconic images.  From the halcyon years when the likes of Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson walked the fairways to present day, some of the best photographers to ever cover the game share memories and stories about how they battled the elements, challenging golf course terrain and, sometimes, players and caddies in pursuit of that perfect shot.
  • How golf helped Dallas teenager Lester Bell escape troubled past – Lester Bell grew up in a household of 10 in a two-bedroom crumbling apartment adjacent to Cedar Crest Golf Club in Dallas, Texas.  Oftentimes, he would slip through the fence to escape his poverty-stricken world to get a closer look at the course with the only two golf clubs he owned – a wedge and putter – that were given to him by The First Tee.  He slowly befriended Ira McGraw, general manager at Cedar Crest Golf Club, and following incarceration at a juvenile detention center and expulsion from his family, he turned to McGraw for help.  Golf Channel’s Scott Walker visits with Bell and his new legal guardians, Ira and Yesenia McGraw, for a discussion about how through golf and The First Tee, Bell has turned his life around.  Bell recently was a semifinalist for the 2013 RBS Achiever of the Year, earning a $3,000 college scholarship and attending the 2013 U.S. Open.
  • Dennis Walters using golf to cope with and inspire others – Nearly 40 years ago, aspiring professional Dennis Walters was involved in a golf cart accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.  Determined to not give up on golf, he re-learned how to play – first from a wheelchair and then progressing to a swivel seat mounted to the passenger side of a golf cart.  Since 1977, the “Dennis Walters Golf Show” has made more than 3,000 appearances around the world, delivering a comedic and inspirational trick shot golf show that has touched lives, young and old.  Golf Channel’s Tim Rosaforte visits with Walters to discuss how far he has come and what he has learned since his accident 40 years ago.

About Golf Channel

As the fastest-growing network on television, Golf Channel is a multimedia, golf entertainment and services company based in Orlando, Fla. The Golf Channel cable network, co-founded by Arnold Palmer in 1995 and part of the NBC Sports Group, is available in more than 120 million homes worldwide through cable, satellite and wireless companies. As part of the NBC Sports Group, professional golf coverage on NBC is branded “Golf Channel on NBC,” further extending the Golf Channel brand to NBC’s broadcast audiences. Exclusive partnerships with the world’s top tours allow Golf Channel to feature more live golf coverage than all other networks combined, added to a programming schedule distinguished by golf’s best news, instruction and original programming. Golf Channel’s digital platform of businesses is led by www.GolfChannel.com, a leading golf destination on the Internet, delivering unmatched coverage of the world of golf, as well as services that help the recreational player with how to play, what to play and where to play golf.

 

-NBC Sports Group-